Before the US strikes on targets in southern Iran, Tehran said a deal with Washington was not imminent.

US strikes southern Iran in 'self defence' targeting Iranian mine boats

The US military has launched a series of strikes near the Strait of Hormuz as an Iranian delegation led by top officials travelled to Qatar to hold negotiations to end the US-Israel war on Iran.

The United States Central Command (CENTCOM) claimed it carried out the “self-defence strikes” to protect US troops from threats posed by Iranian forces. However, it did not provide details about the strikes and their locations. Iranian media reported explosions in Bandar Abbas, some 70km (42 miles) from the Strait of Hormuz, in southern Iran.

The latest attacks come despite a Pakistan-mediated ceasefire in place since April 8, and amid optimism of a deal to end the war that has triggered an energy crisis across the world.

On Monday, Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said a “large portion” of issues with the US have been resolved, but that a deal is “not imminent”.

“Targets included missile launch sites and Iranian boats attempting to emplace mines,” Navy Captain Tim Hawkins, a CENTCOM spokesperson, told Al Jazeera in a statement late on Monday.

“US Central Command continues to defend our forces while using restraint during the ongoing ceasefire,” it said, without providing further details.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is visiting India, said targets included boats attempting to lay mines and missile launch sites. Washington has accused the Iranian military of laying mines near the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of global oil and gas passes in normal times.

Speaking to reporters on his plane in India’s western city of Jaipur, Rubio said the Strait of Hormuz, a global energy chokepoint under de facto Iranian blockade, has to be open “one way or the other”.